September 23. 1909] 



iVA TURE 



0/ / 



COPESUAGE^ CONGRESS OX THE TESTING 



OF MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION. 

 T^HE fifth Congress of the International Association for 

 ^ the testing of engineering materials met at Copen- 

 hr.gen on September 7-1 1. The attendance at this congress 

 wa's very much larger than that at the previous meeting, 

 which took place at Brussels three years ago. There was 

 a particularlv marked increase in the British representa- 

 tion, which 'had risen from about fifteen at Brussels to 

 more than forty at Copenhagen. Among the British re- 

 presentatives were Mr. G. C. Lloyd, British member of 

 council of the International .Association, Mr. J. E. Stead, 

 F.R.S., and Messrs. B. Blount, F. W. Harbord, L. 

 Robertson, E. O. Sachs, F. Tomlinson, W. Rosenhain, 

 and A. G. Roberts. .Among the Continental members. 

 Profs. Martens and Hevn (Berlin), H. Le Chatelier and L. 

 Guillet (Paris), Messrs. Webster, Moldenke, Hatt, and 

 Windsor-Richards (U.S. .A.), were some of the best known. 

 The membership of the congress thus very fully repre- 

 sented both engineering science and practice. 



The formal opening of the congress took place in the 

 presence of the King of Denmark in the large hall of the 

 Universitv of Copenhagen. The opening ceremony was 

 performed in a few graceful words by the Crown Prince 

 of Denmark. In his presidential address the president, 

 Mr. Foss, e.Kplained the general aims of the association, 

 and pointed out the fact that the present year was the 

 twentv-Rfth anniversary of the first inception of the 

 association. He referred specially to the increased interest 

 displayed in the present congress by British engineers, and 

 said he hoped that this might lead to the establishment 

 of a better mutual understanding between the Continental 

 and the English-speaking engineers. An address by Mr. 

 P. Larsen on the development of the Danish cement 

 industry completed the proceedings, which were, however, 

 considerably enlivened by the spirited rendering of a 

 tvpically Scandinavian cantata by a choir of students. 



The actual business of the congress, which occupied the 

 mornings of September 8, g, and 10, was divided into 

 three sections, the meetings of which took place simul- 

 taneously in various rooms set apart for the purpose in 

 the splendid Town Hall of Copenhagen, where every 

 possible provision for the comfort and convenience of 

 members had been thoughtfully made. Section A, being 

 devoted to subjects connected with metals, was the largest 

 as regards attendance, although Section B, devoted to 

 cement and reinforced concrete, also attracted many 

 members and much attention. Section C, devoted to mis- 

 cellaneous materials, proved less important. 



The papers and reports submitted to the three sections 

 occupy the closely printed pages of several voluminous 

 pamphlets, and these, as well as the discussions upon 

 them, can only be indicated here in the briefest outline. 



Section A devoted its first sitting to the subject of_ 

 metallography, an official report of the progress of that 

 science being presented by Prof. Heyn, of Berlin. The 

 "Xtent of this report, in which a considerable number of 

 British papers are referred to in abstract, is striking 

 ••vidence of the great strides which this new science has 

 made — the period covered by this report marking an epoch 

 through the loss of Dr. Sorby, the actual founder of the 

 science. Although the report of Prof. Heyn referred to a 

 large number of papers, some of considerable importance 

 which have appeared in England and America were, no doubt 

 inadvertently, omitted ; in the discussion, therefore, it was 

 suggested by Dr. Rosenhain that it would be desirable 

 in the preparation of future progress reports of this kind 

 to obtain the collaboration of competent members from 

 each country with the view of compiling a complete 

 triennial bibliography. Out of the subject-matter of this 

 report a discussion arose as to the nature of the con- 

 stituents of steel, in which Benedicks, Le Chatelier, and 

 Heyn took part. A further and very satisfactory outcome 

 of this discussion, followed by a private conference of 

 some of the delegates, was the formulation of a set of 

 international definitions referring to the nomenclature of 

 the constituents of iron and steel ; this set of definitions 

 was placed before the congress under the unanimous re- 

 commendation of Messrs. Le Chatelier, Guillet, and Charpy 

 (France), Heyn (Germany), Benedicks (Sweden), and Stead 



NO. 2082, VOL. 81] 



and Rosenhain ^EnglandJ. The new term " meteral," 

 suggested by Howe and Sauveur (U.S.A.), was accepted 

 with the significance in the case of the constituent of a 

 metal which attaches to the term " mineral " in the case 

 of the constituents of a rock, complexes of two or more 

 meterals to be known as "aggregates"; these terms 

 having the great advantage of being of international 

 applicability, and also fairly obvious in meaning, have 

 met with general approval. The terms " martensite," 

 "osmondite," "austenite," and " pearlite," as well as 

 the already universal terms " ferrite " and "cementite," 

 have received clear definitions ; thus the new term 

 " osmondite " is to denote that constituent which is pre- 

 sent in partly hardened or tempered steels which no longer 

 consist of either austenite or martensite, but contain an 

 intermediate constituent which arises in the passage of 

 martensite into pearlite ; this constituent, which some 

 authors have hitherto called " troostite," is now to be 

 known as "osmondite," and it is hoped that the full 

 definition adopted by the congress will free the tern^ 

 " osmondite " from the haze of controversy which has 

 hitherto obscured the term " troostite." The two terms 

 " troostite " and " sorbite " have been left entirely out of 

 these international definitions in the hope that their use 

 will either be entirely dropped or, at all events, accom- 

 panied in each case by a special definition. 



The adoption of these definitions constitutes one of the 

 few quite definite results attained by the congress ; in most 

 other matters the discussions either produced no definite 

 conclusion or the questions under consideration were re- 

 ferred to international committees to be subsequently 

 appointed by the council. Thus the question of slag- 

 enclosures in steel, raised by a paper by Rosenhain, led 

 to a discussion in which the general trend of opinion was 

 strongly in the direction of attaching greater importance to 

 these enclosures than has hitherto been done. Guillet pro- 

 posed that in order to keep this matter before the congress 

 a committee be appointed to consider the subject and to 

 carry out investigations as to the nature of these slag- 

 enclosures and their effect on the mechanical properties 

 of steel, and this proposal was adopted. 



The questions of hardness tests on the one hand and 

 of impact tests on the other each occupied almost an 

 entire day's session of Section A. In regard to hardness 

 tests, the Brinell ball test found many ardent supporters, 

 but, on the other hand. Dr. Ludwik, of \'ienna, pre- 

 sented a paper emphasising the advantages of cone-indenta- 

 tion tests, and a cone-hardness testing machine of Swedish 

 manufacture was shown which appeared to be a serious 

 rival to the Brinell machine of Martens-Heyn, which is 

 regarded as the standard machine in Germany. The 

 British delegates directed attention to the " hardness " 

 testing machines in which the rebound of a hardened fall- 

 ing weight is observed, as these appeared to be unknown 

 on the Continent. 



The importance of impact tests was recognised by all 

 who took part in the lengthy discussion on this subject, 

 but the importance of standardising what was still a purely 

 empirical test was also insisted upon. After some opposi- 

 tion from the German section, the congress finally adopted 

 a set of standard test-bars for notched bar single-blow 

 impact tests, but although the Charpy impact tester 

 appears to be widely recognised as a satisfactory machine, 

 it was decided not to adopt definitely any one apparatus. 



Perhaps the most difficult question with which the con- 

 gress had to deal was that of the standardisation of speci- 

 fications as between different countries; the acceptance of 

 an international specification by the congress being a 

 matter which would seriously affect the industrial interests 

 of the countries concerned, much difficulty and some little 

 friction inevitably arose. It was quite evident from the 

 outset that the final adoption of any universal specifica- 

 tion was not yet possible at the present congress, and in 

 nearly every case the questions of unified specifications 

 were referred back to their respective committees. Perhaps 

 the largest amount of progress was reported by M. Guillet 

 as chairman of the committee on specifications for copper ; 

 at a meeting of this committee, which took place just 

 before the congress at Copenhagen, the members present 

 were able to agree on most points of an international 

 specification. Unfortunately, the attendance at this meet- 



